Zamia Lucayana - Abstract

Abstract

Paleoethnobotanical remains from the three Dog site (SS-21) an early Lucayan site located on San Salvador, Bahamas, are presented and compared to data from other prehistoric Caribbean sites. Flotation, in situ, and screen recovery (1/16", 1.58 mm ) revealed six taxa of fulewood and charred Sapotaceae seed fragments, Prelimanary SEM analysis of six chert microliths revealed possible evidence of the Caribbean ariod, Xanthosoma sp. (cocoyam, malanga, yaufia ) or Zamia sp. The presence of Sapotaceae and possible Xanthosoma sp. or Zamia sp in the archaeobotanical record can be attributed to a number of alternative explanations. The site's inhabitants may have transported these plants from their homelands and transplanted them to home gardens. An alternative view is that they exploited or managed wild representatives or created disturbed habitats that encouraged the spread of wild or culitivated forms. The pollen data from two Bahama cores, one from Andros, the other from San Salvador, reflect anthropogenic disturbance during the prehistoric occupational sequence. The increasing frequency of Sapolaceae pollen in the San Salvador sequence is consistent with the occurrence of Sapotaceae at the three Dog site. Finally, prevention and recovery-related issues are discussed. The study suggests that multiple means of data recovery must be employed to gain a more representative picture of prehistoric Caribbean plant use and floristic environment.